PRINTER'S NO. 3724
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
960
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY FRANKEL, HENNESSEY, COHEN, SCHLOSSBERG,
YOUNGBLOOD, RAPP, ROZZI, DRISCOLL, BAKER, DiGIROLAMO, JAMES,
DeLISSIO, McGINNIS, KIRKLAND, HELM, SANTARSIERO, CALTAGIRONE,
VITALI, DAVIS, KOTIK, GODSHALL, D. COSTA, SCHLEGEL CULVER,
MUSTIO, J. HARRIS, W. KELLER, WATSON, SAYLOR, MACKENZIE,
D. MILLER, WARD, TOEPEL, PHILLIPS-HILL, READSHAW, O'NEILL,
MENTZER, GROVE, MILLARD, DERMODY, BULLOCK, VEREB, MURT,
McNEILL, ROSS, DONATUCCI, MAHONEY, KAUFER AND PAYNE,
JULY 12, 2016
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
JULY 12, 2016
A RESOLUTION
Honoring the extraordinary life and indelible legacy of
Auschwitz survivor, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize winner
Elie Wiesel, who passed away on July 2, 2016, at the age of
87.
WHEREAS, Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 in Sighet,
Transylvania, which is now part of Romania; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Wiesel was just 15 years of age when he and his
family were deported to Auschwitz by the Nazis; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Wiesel was forced to work under harrowing
conditions in the nearby labor camp of Buna alongside his
father, eventually being transferred to a number of other camps
before the end of World War II; and
WHEREAS, His father died at Buchenwald in 1945 shortly before
the camp was liberated, and his mother Sarah and younger sister
Tzipora also perished in the Holocaust; and
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WHEREAS, On April 11, 1945, Mr. Wiesel and other survivors at
Buchenwald were liberated by the United States Third Army; and
WHEREAS, After the war, he studied in Paris and later became
a journalist; and
WHEREAS, During an interview with the distinguished French
writer, Francois Mauriac, Mr. Wiesel was persuaded to write
about his experiences in the death camps; and
WHEREAS, The memoir of his experiences in Nazi Europe during
World War II, "Night," has gone on to sell over 10 million
copies worldwide and has left a permanent mark on countless
individuals around the world, putting a human face on the
millions upon millions who suffered under Nazi tyranny; and
WHEREAS, When his town was rounded up and deported to
concentration camps, Mr. Wiesel wrote in "Night," "One by one,
they passed in front of me, teachers, friends, others, all those
I had been afraid of, all those I could have laughed at, all
those I had lived with over the years. They went by, fallen,
dragging their packs, dragging their lives, deserting their
homes, the years of their childhood, cringing like beaten dogs";
and
WHEREAS, "Night" forced people to confront the horrors of the
Holocaust from an eyewitness' point of view, covering themes of
guilt, fear, anger, despair and doubt, while shining a bright
light on the atrocities committed by the Nazis; and
WHEREAS, In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed Mr. Wiesel
Chairman of the President's Commission on the Holocaust and in
1980, Mr. Wiesel became the Founding Chairman of the United
States Holocaust Memorial Council and played a central role in
the creation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in
Washington, DC; and
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WHEREAS, Mr. Wiesel, along with his wife Marion, established
The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity to combat indifference,
intolerance and injustice through international dialogue and
youth-focused programs that promote acceptance, understanding
and equality; and
WHEREAS, The international conferences of The Elie Wiesel
Foundation for Humanity focus on themes of peace, education,
health, the environment and terrorism and serve as a way to
bring together Nobel Laureates and world leaders to discuss
social problems and develop suggestions for meaningful change;
and
WHEREAS, A devoted supporter of Israel, Mr. Wiesel also
defended the cause of Soviet Jews, Nicaragua's Miskito Indians,
Argentina's Desaparecidos, Cambodian refugees and the Kurds;
victims of famine and genocide in Africa, of apartheid in South
Africa and of war in the former Yugoslavia; and
WHEREAS, In 1986, Mr. Wiesel was the recipient of the Nobel
Peace Prize, with the Norwegian Nobel Committee declaring that
Mr. Wiesel "has emerged as one of the most important spiritual
leaders and guides in an age when violence, repression and
racism continue to characterize the world"; and
WHEREAS, The Norwegian Nobel Committee further declared in
1986 that "Wiesel's commitment, which originated in the
sufferings of the Jewish people, has been widened to embrace all
repressed peoples and races"; and
WHEREAS, President Barack Obama visited the Buchenwald
concentration camp with Mr. Wiesel in 2009, calling him a
"living memorial"; and
WHEREAS, Education always played a central role in Mr.
Wiesel's life, as evident in Mr. Wiesel's service as the Andrew
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W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University for
nearly four decades and his past tenure at the City University
of New York and Yale University; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Wiesel came to Pennsylvania frequently over the
years, including speaking to 6,000 Holocaust survivors and their
families in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Civic Center in
1985 and to 2,000 people in Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh in
1995; and
WHEREAS, He not only spoke to these larger groups, he also
spoke in communities like Allentown, Reading and Greensburg; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Wiesel worked tirelessly with different
communities of faith, participating in a conference in
Pennsylvania and working with the National Catholic Center for
Holocaust Education, which was founded in 1987 on the campus of
Seton Hill University in Greensburg; and
WHEREAS, In his 1987 speech at the National Catholic Center
for Holocaust Education, he said that there was a breakdown in
humanity in World War II that not only caused the Nazis to carry
out their mass murder but prevented people such as President
Franklin D. Roosevelt from stopping or slowing the atrocities
when they had the opportunity; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Wiesel told western Pennsylvanians in his speech
at the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education, "If the
world is to survive, it is because we all realize we must stop
seeing each other as strangers and enemies"; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Wiesel's books and opinion pieces have received
significant media coverage in Pennsylvania newspapers, where as
Albert W. Bloom, Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Jewish
Chronicle wrote in 1968, he "speaks for the silent-not for those
who could speak and didn't, but the martyred silent-those whose
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voices were muffled by the worst barbican of them all, the
modern-day barbarian"; and
WHEREAS, His books, speeches and writing are important
components of Holocaust education programs and curriculum
promoted and developed under the Holocaust, Genocide and Human
Rights Violations Instruction Act; and
WHEREAS, Over the course of his lifetime, Mr. Wiesel wrote
more than 60 works of fiction and nonfiction; and
WHEREAS, For his literary and human rights activities, Mr.
Wiesel received numerous awards over the course of his life,
including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional
Gold Medal, the National Humanities Medal, the Medal of Liberty
and the rank of Grand-Croix in the French Legion of Honor; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Wiesel passed away on July 2, 2016, at the age
of 87, and is survived by his wife Marion, son Shlomo Elisha,
stepdaughter Jennifer Rose and two grandchildren; and
WHEREAS, His impact on this world cannot be downplayed as he
put a human face on the millions of men, women and children
killed during the Holocaust and promoted Holocaust education up
to his death; and
WHEREAS, It is fitting and proper that the House of
Representatives honor a man who devoted his entire life to
fostering improved human relations and human rights around the
world; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives honor the
extraordinary life and indelible legacy of Auschwitz survivor,
humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be sent to The Elie
Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, 555 Madison Avenue, New York,
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New York, 10022.
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